oss to him, as
the boxes had to be let at a very low rent, and all men are governed by
interested motives.

This M. Condulmer was sixty years old, but with all the greenness of
youth he was still fond of women, gaming, and money, and he was, in fact,
a money-lender, but he knew how to pass for a saint, as he took care to
go to mass every morning at St. Mark's, and never omitted to shed tears
before the crucifix. The following year he was made a councillor, and in
that capacity he was for eight months a State Inquisitor. Having thus
attained this diabolically-eminent, or eminently-diabolical, position, he
had not much difficulty in shewing his colleagues the necessity of
putting me under The Leads as a disturber of the peace of the Republic.
In the beginning of the winter the astounding news of the treaty between
France and Austria was divulged--a treaty by which the political balance
was entirely readjusted, and which was received with incredulity by the
Powers. The whole of Italy had reason to rejoice, for the treaty guarded
that fair land from becoming the theatre of war on the slightest
difference which might arise between the two Powers. What astonished the
most acute was that this wonderful treaty was conceived and carried out
by a young ambassador who had hitherto been famed only as a wit. The
first foundations had been laid in 1750 by Madame de Pompadour, Count
Canes (who was created a prince), and M. l'Abbe de Bernis, who was not
known till the following year, when the king made him ambassador to
Venice. The House of Bourbon and the House of Hapsburg had been foes for
two hundred and forty years when this famous treaty was concluded, but it
only lasted for forty years, and it is not likely that any treaty will
last longer between two courts so essentially opposed to one another.

The Abbe de Bernis was created minister for foreign affairs some time
after the ratification of the treaty; three years after he re-established
the parliament, became a cardinal, was disgraced, and finally sent to
Rome, where he died. 'Mors ultimo linea rerum est'.

Affairs fell out as I had foreseen, for nine months after he left Venice
he conveyed to M---- M---- the news of his recall, though he did it in the
most delicate manner. Nevertheless, M---- M---- felt the blow so severely
that she would very possibly have succumbed, had I not been preparing her
for it in every way I could think of M. de Bernis sent me all
instructions.